


Green (Eyes, Trees, and Hoodies)

by golden_marigold



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Cyrus gets lost, Fix-It, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, POV Alternating, Post 3x13, Swingset, slight homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 13:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/golden_marigold/pseuds/golden_marigold
Summary: Post Episode 13. After Cyrus finds himself lost in a dark green forest, his main objective is to get out. Luckily, a certain TJ finds a tan shoulder bag lying helplessly with no owner in sight. (Set the day after costume day.)





	Green (Eyes, Trees, and Hoodies)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I know there a lot of fics that fix episode 13, but I thought why not add this one to the bunch. It's a little strange. I like it though. I even read it to my mom, who I've roped into being an Andi Mack fan lol. She did, in fact, like it.

Why. Why was this his fate? Sure, wandering in the forest was not his brightest idea, but it was also unintentional. Cyrus had been swinging and dragging his feet across the dirt, hoping TJ would never show up, yet somehow so lost in his own head that his feet lifted him and wandered into the shielded and intensely dark-green forest. It was only a few seconds ago that he realized how much of a mess he was in.

Cyrus looked to the sun only slightly shining through the dense overgrowth. It was parallel to the ground. He mentally went over the map of shady-side in his head that he had memorized one day due to the scare his mom gave him when he was 7. School. Neighborhoods. Park. Giant Lake. Forest that stretched three miles. ‘Don’t ever go in there Cyrus,’ he heard his mom saying, ‘it’s far too big to know where you will end up.’ Little Cyrus at the time was listening intently and nodding his head warily. Big Cyrus apparently forgot that moment, or his feet forgot it. How dare they take him somewhere he didn’t know in the slightest.

Cyrus’ black tennis shoes stuck to old decaying leaves. He paused. Before him were many saplings. They reminded him of growth and new friendship.

He wanted to stomp on them. Of course, he didn’t. He still had some control over his emotions. Kind of. The incident yesterday proved to de-rail that statement. After his confusion and anger had died, he cried. For a long time. For multiple reasons. No one knew. Andi and Buffy had to leave town for some concert thing this morning, so he was now alone. At least he had Jonah. Well, Amber was taking all his time, so he didn’t really have Jonah, did he? He needed to get out of this forest and back to his phone where he could wallow in depressing songs and movies.

After a minute of wandering to find a tree to climb, he realized the vegetation included only tall skinny trees, old spruce trees that were too tall and wide to even attempt to climb, and bushes. Stupid bushes filled with stupid poisonous berries.

This was no use. He would have to sit and wait until someone found him or wait until the sun lowered. Perhaps a wild racoon would be the first visitor; or a snake. That seemed fun. Truth be told, Cyrus was never afraid of creepy things like spiders and snakes. He always liked them. Yesterday proved to show that snakes don’t care about your feelings, though. Well, scientifically, that was true too. He should have predicted it.

Cyrus loudly exhaled; not that anyone could hear him.

 

* * *

 

 

TJ exhaled. He had to try. He had to try and get Cyrus to understand because that is what Cyrus deserved. Cyrus never deserved to be treated like TJ had treated him. Cyrus did not deserve to be treated like second choice. TJ would have to explain to Cyrus whatever he could find, accept that he lost the only person he could fully trust, and move on.

As he felt the ground start crunching underneath his feet, he realized he had stepped onto the grass/leaves and gathered up his courage. He could do it. He could tell Cyrus that he was gay but couldn’t come out due to his situation. He could tell Cyrus something else, but he had already been too selfish to even try that.

All he could hear was his heart beating in his chest and the bird screeching on the bench 30 feet away. He snuck a glance to his most loved and hated spot in existence.

Both chains were limp, and the seats held no brown-eyed boy. Dang it.

His head angled down again, and he eyed the shoelaces laced through his red converse. Of course, Cyrus wasn’t there. It’s not like TJ expected him to be. Who would want to talk to someone that betrayed them? Well, it was just a costume. Yet, it felt like much more than that. If TJ wasn’t going to put Cyrus first now, when was he?

He feet were now nearing dirt-holes. Finally, he glanced up to the swings and took one chain in hand. One of the chains Cyrus always touched. The seat that hung from it was the seat Cyrus always swung in. Cyrus to the left, TJ to the right. Though, that was only two times. Maybe Cyrus came and sat wherever he wanted. TJ didn’t know, and now he really wanted to. Or maybe didn’t want to.

TJ sat in Cyrus’ swing facing the opposite way. The playground was empty of children, probably due to the extremely hot day, but there was a bench that had a couple on it. They were holding hands and speaking close to each-others’ faces. TJ forced his eyes to look away. What they landed on caught him by surprise.

A tan, mid-sized shoulder bag. Confusion struck TJ once he neared it. Was Cyrus hiding from him? No. He wouldn’t.

Would he?

 

* * *

 

 

Cyrus was trying his best to feel hopeful, but as the minutes dwindled on, he was feeling it less and less. Would anyone find him? Would he have to sleep on the wet, dead leaves? Would he get dehydrated, pass out, and then wake up in the mouth of a bear? Are there even bears in Shadyside? He couldn’t recall anything like that in the newspaper before. Maybe he would be the first. ‘Boy gets lost in forest and found by bear. What is left of his body is a sight to be seen!’ Then, he would become an urban legend in Shadyside. ‘The boy who died.’ Ha.

The reason he had reviewed the map of Shadyside before was because he knew the school was east of the park, but he also knew that the forest surrounded the park on two sides, west and south. So, given that the sun set in the west, he could eventually tell where east was and set off towards there. He just had to wait for the sun to start setting. Judging by the heat on his head and the shadows on the ground, Cyrus guessed it would take a long time. He decided to sit on the driest rock he could find and started quietly talking to himself.

“I’m surprised how well I’m doing.” He paused a moment, thinking of how weird it was to be talking to himself. “Oh well, no one can hear me, right?” Cyrus peered cautiously around. “Right?”

After a few seconds of complete silence, Cyrus huffed a short breath.

“I wish TJ was here.” Its what he had been thinking of this entire time. If TJ was there, they would be laughing about getting lost in a forest and Cyrus would be a lot less scared and alone.

“Why? Why would he do something like that. TJ isn’t mean. Well,” he thought of the mess that was tutoring, “not to me.”

Silence. Cyrus knew why TJ did that to him. It was sad, but he knew why.

“If he didn’t like Kira, then maybe we could be frolicking together through this forest by now.” Another pause where Cyrus’ brain decided to torture him some more. “There could be no other reason than that, right?”

He had been thinking about it all afternoon yesterday and all day today. After crying about the confusing aspects and the fact that TJ would never like him, Cyrus started crying again because he discovered he liked TJ. It was something he should have realized sooner. It was also something that contributed to this whole mess. TJ bailed on their personal costume for Kira because he liked her (someone Cyrus didn’t even know he was friends with), then looked sorry that he did it but stuck to Kira’s side all day long (not that Cyrus stared at him across the room), and now Cyrus liked him. Why? He didn’t know. Maybe because TJ was finally starting to be the person that understood and thought of him differently than anyone else. Maybe because TJ was tall and had a very beautiful smile. Maybe because he treated Cyrus like he was special, the exception, to the mean-guy façade.

Now that was all ruined.

 

* * *

 

 

“Cyrus! I’m not gonna hurt you I promise!” The couple on the bench glanced towards TJ with scowls. They probably thought he lost his little brother or something. Wow was that far from the truth.

“Cyrus!” TJ called louder. Nothing. He waited 10 seconds before speaking again.

“Cyrus?” He asked softly. Again, nothing. What the heck happened?

Then he heard a buzzing in the bag laying helplessly against the rock. TJ looked around before diving into the bag and retrieving the phone. It was a call from Buffy. He answered it immediately.

“Hey Cyrus, how are you doing? Me and Andi have been having so much fun! I wish you were here.” She spoke with a much gentler tone to Cyrus than him, TJ thought.

“Buffy. It’s TJ. Is Cyrus with you?”

Instantaneously, her tone changed.

“Why did you answer his phone? Where’s Cyrus? What did you do to him?” The volume of her voice got louder and scarier until TJ had to move the large black case away from his ear.

“He’s not with you?” He asked quickly.

“No! You idiot; didn’t I just say that I ‘wished he was here’? Why did you answer his phone?”

“Because I found it ringing and I can’t find Cyrus.” TJ was starting to get frantic.

“Where are you?” He could practically hear her teeth grinding.

“At the park.” A sigh was heard from the other line.

“Of course you are.” A pause. “You aren’t pranking me?”

“No Buffy! I seriously can’t find him. At first I thought he was hiding from me but now I’m getting worried.”

“TJ, I swear to god; if you hurt him I’m going to kill you.”

“I would never,” He responded quietly.

“Well, you did yesterday. Okay, just… uhm. Andi!” Shuffling.

“What?” A faint voice said.

“Cyrus left his phone at the park and TJ can’t find him.”

“And his bag,” TJ added. Silence.

Nothing was heard from the other side for a solid ten seconds. Buffy muted him.

“Guys! Where is he?”

“I don’t know TJ. I’m trying to think,” Andi put in, louder this time.

“Should I call his mom?”

“NO!” They both yelled in unison.

“Why not?”

“Uhm… I’ll explain that later. Let me think,” Andi cautiously said. “Is there anyone else there that might have seen him?”

Was there anyone that might have seen him? Hmm.

TJ groaned.

The couple on the bench.

“There is.” He turned around to the bench. No one sat there. “Shit.”

“What?”

“I have to go. I’ll find Cyrus, I promise. Bye.”

“Wait, lets-“

End call. He checked the time. 2:34pm.

 

* * *

 

 

Cyrus laid over the flat rock he found a couple minutes ago and closed his eyes, soaking in the sun. The forest did smell good, even if it was a little scary.

He wasn’t _that_ scared though. The emotional energy he had been exerting drained him of all senses of fear for himself. His mind drifted away, and his nose sniffed the greenery around him. Hefty tree bark combined with flowers and wet decaying leaves. Altogether, it was very calming.

You know what else smelled good? You know what else was (normally) calming? TJ smelled good. TJ was calming.

That was his last thought before sleeping engulfed Cyrus.

 

* * *

 

 

It took only a minute of running around to find the couple strolling hand-in-hand lousily on the pavement to the ice-cream cart nearby. On closer inspection, they seemed to be a couple that was in their mid-40s and each had wedding rings.

“Hey! You there!” They turned their heads around. This time, he could see that the wife had extremely curly black hair and a face that meant no mischief. The man was bald and a little chubby. Okay, a lot chubby.

“Us?”

“Yes. Did you see a dark-haired boy? Bushy eyebrows, brown eyes, he was probably a little sad.”

“No, sorry,” The man replied. TJ’s stomach dropped. “We haven’t seen any little kids today.” The wife looked TJ up and down.

“No, no. He’s my age. Like, this tall.” He gestured to a couple of inches shorter than him. The couple looked to the sky.

“Oh, there was someone swinging alone. But we only saw their back,” The husband took his time to say.  

“Was he kind of lanky and had nice clothes on?”

“Yes, I think so.” Yes!

“Did you happen to see where he went?”

“Why are you asking?” The wife finally put in. She seemed concerned.

“Because I…” TJ thought about his response. _Why_ was he asking? “I messed up. And I need to find him. He is my friend-my only friend- and I need to make it up.” Even though TJ was being completely honest, he knew the wife was still eying him suspiciously. He had to be even more honest. “I like him.”

The woman’s face softened, and she looked to her husband. “Did you see anything, honey?”

“Yes, I was wondering what he was doing there alone so I kept glancing over.” TJ really needed them to hurry up. “And then one time I looked, and he was gone.”

The wife was fidgeting now and turned her body towards the ice-cream cart. 

“Okay. But did you see anything else?” TJ pried.

The husband shrugged and shook his head, but the wife looked to the husband guiltily. Eye contact that screamed ‘I’m sorry, I love you!’ was exchanged.

“I-uh. Yeah, I did.” The bald man rose his eyebrows. “I did see a red shirt disappear into the woods, but I-” She blushed. “Mike was being so sweet, and I didn’t want to stop being so happy, you know?”

TJ felt anger bubble up in his chest a little bit. So, the wife did see Cyrus _vanish_ into the _forest_ but didn’t say anything because she was being loved up by her partner too much?

How dare she. How dare she watch a teenage boy go by himself into the woods, alone, and not do anything about it.

By himself into the woods; alone.

TJ paled.

“You know what? Just buy your stupid ice-cream. I need to find Cyrus.” He didn’t have to see their reactions as he turned away and ran toward the forest.

His brain had only one thought running through his mind as he ran through the woods (Find Cyrus), that he failed to bring appropriate supplies. He didn’t know why Cyrus went into the forest, he didn’t want to think about it, but he did realize that he should have at least brought water. He didn’t, but he should have. Cyrus always carried a water bottle with him, and normally TJ did too. Today he was out-of-sorts. Cyrus probably had one in his bag though. He should have just brought Cyrus’ entire bag. The only good things he had was his and Cyrus’ phones.

He grabbed Cyrus’ phone from his pocket and winced when he saw 10 missed calls from Buffy, 5 from Andi, and one from Cyrus’ mom. He must have tuned them out. After staring at Cyrus’ wallpaper for a moment (a picture of Cyrus’ cat), he swiped left on Buffy’s missed call and clicked call back.

It only rung once before it was picked up and Buffy screamed into his ear.

“DON’T YOU DARE _shhppp_ THIS CALL AGAIN, HAVE _shhhp_ FOUND CYRUS?” A distorted ‘breath Buffy’ was heard in the background.

“No, but I know he went into the forest and I’m looking for him now.”

“You what?”

“I walked into the forest and I am searching now.” TJ emphasized each word; the trees were garbling the call.

“Why are you- nevermind. What _shhhp_ plan?”

 “I’m going to walk around looking for him and call his name.” As TJ said this, he walked into a clearing, effectively clearing up the audio.

“I’m sure that will work,” Buffy sarcastically remarked.  

“Do you have other ideas because I really need to start looking now.”

“I guess not. Just- don’t stupid. Bring Cyrus back. He is really helpless with this stuff, you know?”

TJ sighed. How many things would it take to prove Cyrus wasn’t helpless?

“Bye now.”

“Call us when you get Cyrus to safety!”

“I will.” TJ silently prayed that Cyrus was okay. It was now 3:13pm.

 

* * *

 

 

Meanwhile, Cyrus began dreaming. In his dream, all he could see was one side of a wall. He was stuck to the floor and he could tell he was wearing shoes. However, no matter how hard he tried to remove his feet from his shoes, he couldn’t. They were stuck in his shoes, and his shoes were stuck to the floor. Andi and Buffy appeared on the other side of the wall and waved at him. He felt confused. Abruptly, the floor dropped from under him and he felt fear as his body was taken from his mind. Once he realized that he was falling down a dark hole, his mind rejoined his body and a hand reached out to him. It was smooth and larger than his. He took it. The hand gripped as hard as it could, and the body connected to it was pulled down until brown eyes meet green. Cyrus immediately knew the person’s name was Green. Then, the pretty green eyes closed; the hand kept clasping. A voice spoke, but it was from behind Cyrus, and he turned towards it. ‘Let go,” it said sternly. It matched no face, but Cyrus could tell the demand wasn’t directed towards him because the hand loosened its grip. ‘Let GO,’ it ordered again. Nothing happened for what felt like forever. Gradually, the hand tightened their hold and he heard a weak voice say back, ‘No.’ ‘Fine,’ the first voice said. A brief grunt of ‘Cyrus!’ erupted from Green and Cyrus was dropped again. He woke with a jolt, and for some reason, tears streaming down his face.

 

* * *

 

 

It took a while to calm down from that strange dream. Cyrus reminded himself that dreams are bundles of thoughts bound together; they have absolutely no meaning whatsoever. Well, that’s what his dad says. Cyrus’ step-mom thinks otherwise.

A deep breath took Cyrus to better posture in this weird sitting position he had found himself lurching into when he woke. He dragged his knees to his chest and took another slow, controlled inhale. Releasing a quick exhale, he lifted himself to a standing position. There was a bit of wobbling.

His eyes blinked away a couple tears and searched for the sun. It was setting now, having indicated a long time since he got lost in the first place. He had slept for a long time. All this crying was really wearing him out.

Cyrus rubbed each shoulder against each respective eye and cheek. His face no longer felt wet, but it still felt heavy.

He started walking east, away from the sun. It probably wouldn’t be that long to the park, though he didn’t really remember how much his feet wandered until his mind told him to stop and look around. Also, he was worried that he was going too south or north and end up in the trees at dark anyway.  

As his feet carried him forward, Cyrus thought about the dream. Who else did he know that had green eyes? Jonah? He didn’t have big hands though. Cyrus knew because he had spent so much time obsessing over Jonah that he memorized what holding his hands felt like. Well, only when they did some weird handshake thing that took him an entire day to learn. The hands in the dream felt a lot like the person he had just realized he had been crushing over all this time. Now that he thought about it, maybe that’s why his crush on Jonah disappeared. TJ started doing all the things that he had always wanted Jonah to do. For instance, TJ always hugged him as a greeting. Jonah didn’t do that; well, Cyrus couldn’t remember him doing that. Also, TJ brought him a gift even though he didn’t need to. He knew Cyrus wasn’t helpless and could learn to ride a dirt bike and showed him how to brake. Jonah just kind of put him on a skate-board and said go. Jonah wasn’t all that bad, though. He hyped Cyrus up for helping with Ultimate and gave him a shirt to represent that he was officially on the Space Otters. Jonah trusted him enough to tell him about his panic attacks and was ready to forgive TJ for a long grudge that obviously affected him as a person. Yet, TJ told him about his learning disability and apologized to Jonah.  Also, apparently TJ had helped Jonah at Cyrus’ Bar Mitzvah, which Cyrus didn’t know until Jonah thanked TJ. TJ also apologized to a trash can for Andi and then kept his promise in apologizing to Buffy. TJ reported the gun incident and Cyrus is pretty sure Reed was too mad to take TJ back as a friend after that. Overall, there were a lot of good things that TJ had done. That’s why it still confused Cyrus to no end that TJ didn’t tell Cyrus that he was changing his costume, which would have at least saved Cyrus a lot of embarrassment. Even if TJ liked Kira, he could have told Cyrus that he wanted to do it with Kira. Maybe he was just too embarrassed to have an inside joke costume with Cyrus. That’s one similarity between Jonah and TJ; they both were too embarrassed to publicly match with Cyrus. Jonah didn’t “want us to look like a couple of dorks”, which roughly translates to “I would be embarrassed to be matching with you”. TJ had not only agreed, however; he had initiated the correlating costume. He had wanted to do it. Cyrus ditched Andi to do it and then TJ ditched Cyrus. Cyrus supposed that it was karma a little bit, but there were very different intentions. Mount Rushmore was a group activity, and it wasn’t special to them. They had never visited Mount Rushmore. Andi thought it could make the year book, so they did it. TJ and Cyrus were planning to dress up in something special to both of them. They would have to explain it to everybody. They weren’t doing it to get in the year book, they were doing it because… well… Cyrus didn’t really know. That’s what friends do? It’s a way of showing appreciation? Displaying that you and this person have a joke and memory that no one else knows unless you tell them? Instead, TJ did a costume with someone he wasn’t even friends with, and it was literally just a white shirt with print on it. A joke that everyone who played basketball would know, which automatically excluded Cyrus. Was TJ trying to exclude Cyrus? Did he realize it would be too embarrassing walking about with a kid who was dorky and sucked at sports? Cyrus didn’t know. Nothing made sense.

A faint yell reached Cyrus’ ears. He whipped around and frantically searched through the trees. It took about 15 seconds before he heard another yell. This time, he heard the yell clearer.

“Cyrus!” It said.

Is it… could it be? No. Suddenly Cyrus was consumed by the faint thumps against his chest.

“Cyrus!” It yelled again. It was fainter than the last yell. At least this time he could tell it wasn’t an adult, and it wasn’t a girl. That fact scared him. Mentally, Cyrus went over what he should do.

He decided to follow it. 25 seconds flew by, and inched by at the same time, until he heard his name again, ever so far away. “Cyrus!”

He responded this time.

“Hello!”

“Cyr-?!” It wasn’t very clear, but whoever was yelling his name, of who Cyrus had one person in mind, had their yell cut off by something. Cyrus walked faster to the voice and yelled again.

“I’m over here!” He walked more but then paused and listened. No more yells. He thought that maybe it was his figment of imagination. Someone calling for him, but it was just the wind. Perhaps it was a bird call. Maybe Cyrus had been in this stupid forest for so long that he rendered bird calls as names. Was he going insane?

“HELLO?!” Cyrus yelled loudly. No one responded.

“IS ANYONE THERE?” Silence.

“Am I going crazy?” He wondered again to himself. Just then, his ears picked up on a faded sound of crunched leaves. The sound got louder.

He followed it.

A figure with a dark green hoodie came into view. The person was probably a little taller than Cyrus, had relatively broad shoulders, but still a slim physique. Cyrus squinted. Short, messed up blond hair sat on top of this person’s head.

“TJ.”

 

* * *

 

 

He found him. He freaking found him. Cyrus was right there. His red shirt and brown hair and lanky legs.

TJ tried desperately to open his mouth and say, ‘Hi Cyrus’. Yet, his throat stopped him again and nothing escaped his mouth. So, he was left gaping at Cyrus and moving his mouth like a mime.

“TJ?” Cyrus said. TJ started walking faster towards him, but Cyrus stayed put. His face looked afraid and shocked at the same time. TJ didn’t like it. As soon as he got within 10 feet, he launched himself forward and squeezed Cyrus putting as many feelings he had forward into Cyrus with all his might.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, then buried his nose in Cyrus’ hair and continued whispering brokenly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”  

Cyrus didn’t move from under him. TJ had hugged him because that is all he wanted to do at that moment, but maybe he made Cyrus uncomfortable. Arms slithered back to his sides and hands stuffed themselves in jean pockets. This time he saw that Cyrus’ hair was completely messed up and his eyes were red.

“Sorr-” TJ’s voice cut off again. He continued in another whisper, “I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“No, no. I just don’t know what to do in this situation. What happened to your voice?” TJ’s heart stammered, and his stomach flipped around.

“It ran out…yelling. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was just walking back to the park.”

TJ tilted his head.

“How do you know where the park is?” It felt weird to be having a conversation where one person whispers. He pulled Cyrus’ phone out of a pocket and gave it to him.  

“You have to go east.”

“Oh. Wait- how do you know where-?” Cyrus cut him off by pointing at the orange sun rays escaping their way through the trees. TJ’s mind spun for a moment before he realized what he was implying. “Oh.” Obviously, Cyrus knew exactly what to do in this situation. “Why did you come here in the first place?”

Cyrus looked at his feet.

“I don’t know.”

TJ didn’t want to pry further.

“Okay.” He tried to meet Cyrus’ eyes, but the brown hair didn’t lift. “We should head back.”

“Yeah.”

They started walking in silence. Normally, if things were silent between them it was because they were just comfortably enjoying each-other’s company. Now it felt awkward and forced.

Feet kept dragging on leaves for a little while. TJ didn’t know how long; his mind was racing too quickly to judge the time. It turned out Cyrus’ mind was running, too, because he blurted something out eventually.

“Are you embarrassed of me?”

TJ whipped his head to the left and found Cyrus pointedly staring ahead.  

“No.” His voice came back, no more whispers, but it didn’t sound familiar. “I’m not embarrassed of you.”

“Then why did you bail on the costume?” Cyrus’ voice heightened.

“I-” The steps beside him halted and Cyrus moved in front of him, effectively stopping TJ from walking forward.

“Because you realized that it would be embarrassing to walk around with me all day? Because it doesn’t make any sense that you become all ‘prince charming’,” Cyrus quoted with his fingers, “to rescue me from the dreaded forest yet you failed to mention that you were a complete jerk only yesterday. TJ, just because you like Kira doesn’t mean-”

TJ widened his eyes at Cyrus’ words and immediately put a finger over Cyrus’ mouth.

“I hate Kira,” The raspy voice TJ had somehow possessed said.

This time Cyrus’ eyes widened. Then he furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the finger ever so slightly touching his lips. TJ yanked his hand away from Cyrus’s face.

“What?”

“I hate her.”

“Why?”

“Because I…” TJ didn’t know where to start. 

Cyrus eyes seemed to darken after TJ ran out of words and he turned around and kept walking. It took a little while before TJ caught up again.

“I don’t believe you TJ. You not liking Kira makes this whole situation worse. It just feels like you’re embarrassed of me again.”

“I said I hate Kira, I don’t just dislike her. I’m not embarrassed of you.”

“Then just spit it out TJ!”

“I had to do a costume with Kira because she wanted me to.”

“So?”

“If I hadn’t have done it, then there would have been… consequences.”

“What kind?”

“My aunt, uncle, and cousins are dramatic.” TJ didn’t exactly know how to phrase this strange information.

“I’m confused.”

“Just- let me finish. It’s a long story.” A flat rock caught his eye. “Let’s sit down.” Both boys silently sat. They were farther apart than usual. TJ hated it. “My mom’s sister and her husband and kids live with us and will continue to until the beginning of summer when they can go back to their house that was destroyed by a hurricane. It hasn’t been easy, but we are making it work.” TJ looked at Cyrus to see his reaction, but he just looked confused and attentive. “Anyways, my cousins have very… um, traditional and strong beliefs that… differ with something they don’t know yet about me.”

“Okay… and that is…”

TJ took a deep breath in. Dropping the bomb was going to take longer than he thought.

“I-” He couldn’t do it. He needed to give Cyrus more explanation before he started thinking differently of TJ. “Its too hard to say. I want to give more explanation.”

“I didn’t think you were the type to give straight answers.”

TJ chuckled at “straight answers”. Cyrus still looked confused.

“Not really. Okay so, I don’t know how to say it exactly.”

“Just start telling me how you and Kira got to doing a costume together and how it relates to your cousins.”

TJ glanced to the boy he was about to spill his most sacred secret to.

“Okay. After we planned the costume, Kira came up to me after practice again and said she wanted to do a costume idea. I said that I was set with our costume.”

“Somersault.”

“Then, she said something like, ‘You would rather do a costume with Cyrus than with me.’ She told me to ‘have fun with that’ and left.”

“So, at first you refused to do a costume with her?”

“Yeah, I really wanted to do one with you. I just,” He tucked his legs in a crisscross and spun to face Cyrus. “After that, I started thinking. Somehow, she got my phone number and texted me later that day asking if I still ‘desired’ to do a costume with you.” He looked Cyrus in the eye. “She called me ‘Cupid’ a bunch and once, ‘Smiles’.” Cyrus’s eyes flashed with uncertainty and questions that TJ knew he was holding back. TJ had to stop and take a breath. “Kira said it would be funny if I didn’t tell you. I didn’t think it would be funny, but I had no choice at this point. So, she gave me the shirt on the morning of costume day; I put it on and then left to find you. I… Can you say the rest?”

Cyrus gave TJ a look with a lot of confusion and started his side of the story.

“She did call you ‘Cupid’ when she ran up to us, which I was confused about all of yesterday. You were also saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ a lot and then she just dragged you away. You don’t normally say ‘I’m sorry’. Then, you spent the whole day clinging to her.”

“I know and I’m really, really, sorry.”

“TJ, I still don’t get the meaning of, what was it? ‘You’d rather do a costume with Cyrus than with me?’ Does she like you?” TJ aggressively shook his head. “Wait.” TJ could tell Cyrus was calculating all the things they just talked about in his head because Cyrus’ face twitched, and he stood up abruptly. “She thought you liked me? And implied that she would tell people that you like a boy?”

“Yeah.”

“TJ, nothing is wrong with liking a boy. There is no reason to-” TJ cut him off.

“I know that. But if my cousins found out, which they would, quickly, because my younger cousin goes to Jefferson, it would be chaos and I don’t think my mom would appreciate me driving them out of the house.”

Cyrus stopped pacing and his hands dropped to the side.

“Oh. How much longer do you have to live with them?”

“One more month until they leave for their new house in Florida.”

“Hm.”

  
Suddenly, the orange and yellow light around them got significantly darker.

“We need to get out of here,” Cyrus declared.

“Should we call Buffy and Andi? Or your mom?”  

“No no no, not my mom. She would freak out and send an army. It would be embarrassing. Also, calls probably don’t work this deep in the forest.”

“Right.”

“Let’s leave.”

TJ found himself looking at a hand a little smaller than his. He grabbed it and hauled himself off the rock. Cyrus didn’t let go of his hand as they raced through the forest like TJ had done 20 minutes ago for about 3 hours. His legs ached with pain. Although the fading light interrupted their conversation, TJ was glad of it. He avoided the confirmation of the crush on Cyrus. He also found out that Cyrus didn’t think it wrong to like a boy. TJ was very thankful of that. Maybe they could remain friends, if Cyrus didn’t find out TJ in fact liked him. Cyrus was still holding his hand. TJ couldn’t pay much attention to it because he was avoiding stray roots and looking ahead to Cyrus’ path.  

 

* * *

 

 

Cyrus saw light at the end of the tunnel. Was this all a dream? Would he wake up in bed and notice that TJ’s hand was not in his? Did he die? TJ slowed their movements down as they near the bright light.

“Hey guys!”

TJ stopped walking. Cyrus squeezed TJ’s hand as he knew immediately who it was.

“Hey Jonah!” He pulled TJ towards the bright light and Jonah appeared. He side-hugged him.  

“I’m glad you guys are out.” Jonah shone the light to indicate the playground about 20 yards away. “Why did you go in the forest in the first place?”

“Long story. Why did you come find us?”

“Buffy called me complaining about you and TJ.”

“Hi Jonah,” TJ said. He gave a little wave that Cyrus thought was adorable.

“Hi TJ.” The flashlight started moving.

Cyrus’s eyes followed the flashlight down until it shown on their linked hands like a spotlight.

“Oh.” Jonah immediately lifted it back up again. “I’m guessing you guys are good now?”

“Almost,” Cyrus revealed. “TJ.” He let go of their hands and braced TJ’s shoulders. Cyrus’ butterflies dared to surface, but he pushed them down. He searched TJ’s eyes, which could be barely seen in the dark. They looked terrified. “Do you like me?”

Both Jonah and TJ didn’t dare to move a muscle. Jonah then slowly brought his hand up so their faces shown brightly.

“Cyrus, Jonah is literally right here.” Cyrus glanced over his shoulder at Jonah.

The flashlight stopped spotlighting them and went to the ground.

“I’ll leave,” Jonah said and slowly backed away. “But good luck and I’m going to call Buffy and tell her you’re okay. Bye!” He finished his run-on sentence when he turned around.

Cyrus blushed but couldn’t see TJ’s face anymore.

“So, do you like me?”

“Do you like _me_?” TJ retorted.

Butterflies started exploding in his stomach.

“Uhh, maybe I’m gay and haven’t told you yet because I didn’t want to lose you and just recently found out I liked you.”

“Interesting. Whole other story over here.” Hands came up to Cyrus’ waist so if a flashlight was shone on them, it would look like they were dancing. No flashlight came, though.

“What is that story?”

“I am too gay, but I have liked you since I had to chase you down at the swing set that second time.”

Cyrus’ mouth and hands dropped down. TJ has liked him all this time? So, Kira was right?

“Cyrus?” A hesitant voice questioned.

“Sorry, I’m frankly astonished.”

Cyrus brought his hands back up to TJ’s shoulders but this time he pulled him close. It felt way different than the hug that TJ gave him in the forest. They stayed like that for a while and TJ snuffled his face into Cyrus’ hair. Eventually, the logical side of Cyrus broke the peaceful silence and pulled away.

 “So, you want to go to my house or yours or maybe-”

TJ interrupted him. It was unexpected, yes. Yesterday, Cyrus would have never dreamed TJ’s lips on his cheek. Cyrus didn’t even know how TJ could see well enough to correctly aim for the skin right below his eye.

“Yours. I’ll text my mom.”

Cyrus silently nodded. No one moved. Then, he realized TJ couldn’t see the silent confirmation.

“I’ll call mine.”

Its best to say Cyrus’ mom was not happy with his hourly disappearance. They walked to Cyrus’ house safely with their phone’s flashlights after she calmed down, though.

 

* * *

 

That night, they ate dinner with Cyrus’ parents, whose mom thanked TJ with all her heart for looking out for her ridiculous son. They fell asleep in Cyrus’ bed. Cyrus dreamed of being stuck to the floor as it felt out from under him. Yet, this time the hand grabbed him, and Cyrus pulled the person down with him. They fell for a split second, and Cyrus woke up. He wiggled his fingers and noticed that he was, in fact, still holding Green’s hand.

 


End file.
